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Would you believe that tomorrow we are expected to put aside our own important work and honor teachers? That's right, we're supposed to drop everything and pay homage to those lazy, overpaid, spoiled, money-grubbing, summer-vacationing, 'we've-got-tenure-and-you-don't' incompetents.
That's because Wednesday, October 5th, is "World Teachers' Day," an occasion recognized by more than 100 countries around the world. But it's also "Teacher Day" on Thursday, October 6th, the following day, in Sri Lanka.
In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that every day of the year is "Teacher Day" somewhere in the world.
Teachers have October locked up, that's for sure. Beside this Wednesday's celebration for those 100 countries and Sri Lanka's on Thursday, Australia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Brazil, Poland, Chile, Ukraine and New Zealand all have chosen an October day to celebrate their teachers. In Ukraine, students give their teachers chocolate! (You and I work hard. Does anyone give us chocolate?)
Here in the USA we have at least two Teacher Days and an entire Teacher Week. The first full week of May is "Teacher Appreciation Week," with that particular Tuesday being designated as "Teacher Appreciation Day." This official celebration is apparently the result of hard work by the National Education Association and the National PTA. Massachusetts celebrates its own "Teachers' Day," the first Sunday in June.
February 28th is a good day for teachers in the Middle East. That's when 12 countries celebrate: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman.
Because we were asleep at the switch, we have already missed India's "Teacher Day" (September 5), China's and Hong Kong's (September 10th), Brunei's celebration on September 23, Taiwan's (September 28) and Singapore's (first Friday of the month). India makes a teacher's cushy job even easier because on that day senior students take over the responsibility for teaching.
The only month that does NOT have a "Teachers Day" to call its own is, predictably, August. June has four (Bolivia, El Salvador, Hungary, and Guatemala), March has five (the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Albania, Lebanon, and Iraq), but the merry month of May tops them both, with six country celebrations: Iran, Bhutan, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mexico, and Colombia.
Teachers really live the life of Riley in Vietnam. November 20th is set aside to allow students "to express their respect to their teacher. Students begin preparing a week in advance, and many classes usually prepare literature and art to welcome teachers' day, while other students prepare foods and flowers for the parties held at their schools. Students usually visit their teachers at their homes to offer flowers and small gifts, or organize trips with their teachers and classmates. Former students also pay respect to their former teachers on this day."
To be serious for a moment, what are we to make of all these celebrations honoring teachers? While I am all for honoring those men and women, I hope the respect neither begins nor ends on that particular day. Somehow I keep thinking of Jon Stewart's wry comment at the end of February when he noted that, now that Black History Month was over, we could get back to White History Year.
I have a modest proposal. In addition to the celebrations, how about a concerted effort to end the dishonoring of teachers and teaching? I'm talking about the Fox News commentators who rattle on about overpaid teachers; those school principals who treat teachers as interchangeable parts; union reps who bargain for rigid and bizarre work rules that hamstring dedicated teachers and administrators alike; curriculum designers who labor to create 'teacher-proof' curricula; education school leaders with low standards and undemanding programs; cheap-shot politicians and so on. I am sure that there are a few million teachers who would like to see any of them try to do for just one day what teachers do every day of the school year.
Me, I would give anything to capture that on film. We could call the ensuing television program "Real Hypocrites in Classroom 203" or maybe "America's Got Bozos."
Thanks, teachers. Enjoy the day -- and the career.
Follow John Merrow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/john_merrow
*****Originally posted in the Huffinton Post on October 4, 2011
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